The IIG has successfully concluded yet another 2 instalments of #WisdomWednesday in July, with a collective attendance of over 4000 insurance industry professionals. To date, the Insights team have delivered 6 webinars and 1 in-person event, with a plan to continue rolling out 2 webinars a month for the remainder of 2025. #YourIIG continues to set standards and exceed them with this month proving to be another record-breaking month for IIG Insights webinar attendance, aligning with the theme of #2025AndAlive.
In a decade marked by intensifying climate-related challenges, the webinars in July focused on this critically important topic, and were hosted by industry leading speakers from SASRIA, and Howden, bringing together experts and practitioners to unpack the real and rising impacts of climate change and flood risk across South Africa — with a specific lens on vulnerable communities and systemic industry implications. Also worth noting for these sessions, was the ever-increasing importance of the re/insurers, brokers, and clients to remain committed to the ongoing efforts of building resilient solutions for societies and governments, with the aim of reducing the impacts of climate change on those most vulnerable.
Climate Change: The Implications for society, and how it affects the insurance industry
The sessions kicked off with Hayley Clarke, Chief Actuarial Officer from SASRIA SOC Ltd leading a thought-provoking discussion about the implications of climate change for society and the future of the insurance industry. The session led with a discussion that focused on trends related to climate change, broadening the lens to global climate science, risks, mitigation and adaptation, and economic trends and the implications for the insurance industry.
An important highlight from the online seminar was on the ever-widening protection gap, and the impact of global disasters, and how this unfolds across industries such as agriculture, with a potential solution being the exploration and implementation of parametric insurance. Two case studies were covered here;
- African Risk Capacity – Sovereign Disaster Protection and,
- Kenya Livestock Insurance Program (KLIP)
The session concluded with the call to action of exploring “New Paradigms” focusing on Long-Term Sustainability, Ecological Economics and New Frameworks for building resilient industries and sustainable economies.
This brilliantly laid the foundation for the second webinar of the month, brought to the industry by the Howden Group, covering a detailed case study on Floods in South Africa.
Managing Flood Risk in Cape Town’s Townships
Led by Peter Adams (Associated Director: Climate Risk & Resilience) and Marta Lamberti (Associate Consultant: Climate Risk & Resilience), this session began with an overview of the Climate Risk & Resilience Practice within the Howden Group, and the partnerships and fellowships that exist between Howden and the Resilient Cities network, with Cape Town among the most recent fellowship member from 2024. This partnership enabled a thorough research study to be conducted in Cape Town by Howden, with key outcomes, proposed solutions, and recommendations.
The deep dive that followed focused on outlining reasons for flooding in various informal settlements across Cape Town, namely:
- Ponding
- Groundwater upwelling
- Riverines
- Overland flow
- Coastal locations
- Sited in flood management infrastructure
Also mentioned was the key objective of the case study; to assess the range of costs from flooding in informal settlements, with a summary of the research methodology used in conducting the research.
The outcomes were summarised in 3 main categories; 1) Direct Costs to government, relief organisations and business, 2) Direct Costs to the informal community, and 3) Indirect Impacts to all of society, with the categories being reported with gaps, estimated and inferred based on the research approach.
Several solutions and recommendations were then tables for consideration and concluding the analysis, and the session.
The #IIG continues to elevate the continuous learning and knowledge sharing goal through these #WisdomWednesday sessions, and there is still a lot more to come for the rest of the year.
#Insurance #ContinuousLearning #YourIIG #WisdomWednesday
Nande Nqoloba | Head Operations South Africa – Swiss Re Corporate Solutions
